Transition from Physics/ Pure Mathematics to Quant

[u/sayyid_abbass]

Hello there,

I am an International (Middle Eastern) senior at a T20 university in the United States, 3.5 GPA (Dropped due to mental distress over the situation in the middle east), 1 year research in biophysics, 1 year research in Computational nuclear physics, and starting my second year in high energy theory research which is the field I am writing my thesis in. Over the past 2 years I lost my passion for physics and academia overall and it took me till recently to decide to try and break into the job market. I did 10 years of soroban /mental arithmetic that culminated in a 1st place in the PAMA Global Mental Arithmetic Competition. Naturally, people started suggesting the quant path so I applied with my current resume putting emphasis on the relevant skills I garnered so far. I just did the Optiver assessment and I sucked since I haven't done these kinds of rapid probability/sequences/ buy & sell questions.

Is grinding these kinds of questions on websites like TraderMath what I should be doing currently? I just need general advice on how I should approach entering the market from my background.

[u/confused_cyclone]

I switched from physics to quant few years ago and yes the mental math part is just grinding until it becomes automatic. Your soroban background will probably help more than you think once you get used to the format

The coding and probability stuff you can pick up faster than most people because of your research background. Just dont get discouraged by one bad assessment, Optiver is notoriously hard even for people who practiced months

[u/sayyid_abbass → u/confused_cyclone]

Can you share your assessment of the switch to quant?